Robber of oligarchs and protector of drug traffickers: how German Gref’s Sberbank Is turning into an FSB feeding trough under the control of general Oleg Khramov

Robber of oligarchs and protector of drug traffickers: how German Gref’s Sberbank Is turning into an FSB feeding trough under the control of general Oleg Khramov

German Gref appointed Russian FSB General Oleg Khramov as his adviser. Now information security at Sber — which positions itself as Russia’s leading force in digitalization and modern technologies — will be overseen by a former officer of the Soviet KGB and the FSB’s Fifth Service, known as the author of some of the most absurd “special operations.”

For example, one of his ideas involved a plan to establish control over all globally influential figures connected to information security, including Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. Virtually every position Khramov has held has been marked by scandal.

Oleg Khramov began his career in the Soviet KGB and later became deputy head of the FSB Directorate for Moscow and the Moscow Region. In that role, he developed close ties with Vice Mayor Valery Shantsev. When Shantsev became governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, he managed — through then–Security Council chief and former FSB director Nikolai Patrushev — to arrange Khramov’s transfer to head the regional FSB directorate in Nizhny Novgorod. His deputy there was General Dmitry Muryshov, who was recently sentenced to 10 years in prison for accepting bribes.

In the Nizhny Novgorod Region, General Khramov became known for two things. First, he attended all church events, invariably dressed in liturgical robes (see video). Second, he became embroiled in a major scandal involving Oleg Yefremov, head of the Investigative Department of the regional FSB office. Yefremov was arrested for trafficking confiscated heroin. From prison, he wrote a letter claiming he had been jailed because of a conflict with Khramov: according to Yefremov, he had refused Khramov’s order to shut down a criminal case against Gulya Khodyreva, the wife of former regional governor Gennady Khodyrev. Yefremov alleged that Khramov received 100 million rubles in exchange for closing the case. He also accused the general of “protecting” various businesses and expressed willingness to testify about it. Shortly afterward, Yefremov was reportedly beaten to death in prison by inmates and penal colony staff.

The next step in Khramov’s career was becoming head of the Operational Information Department (DOI) of the FSB’s Fifth Service. Together with Fifth Service “top managers” Sergey Beseda and Dmitry Malyutin, he oversaw operations related to Moldova, Ukraine, the Baltic states, and other regions. The latter two are recurring figures in our investigations.

In January 2017, through Patrushev’s patronage, Khramov became Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council, responsible for information security.

In 2020, with Khramov’s support, the DOI allegedly attempted to implement a plan to “establish control” over all major global figures involved in information security. This fantastical scheme — characteristic of the Fifth Service — supposedly included bringing even Elon Musk and Bill Gates into its sphere of influence.

The DOI and Group-IB founder Ilya Sachkov began working on a scenario involving the creation of an international conference titled “Cybersecurity and Investment Protection.” On the surface, it appeared to be an ordinary event. In reality, the goal of the annual conference was allegedly to identify everyone internationally connected to the field of information security and attempt to place the activities of global tech giants under a certain degree of operational control — perhaps even recruitment. London was intended to serve as both the venue and headquarters for the initiative. Sachkov reportedly traveled there repeatedly to organize the event. Assisting him was the son of Eduard Budantsev — a fixer associated with the FSB — from his first marriage, who permanently resides in London. The official organizer was the nonprofit “International Institute for Sustainable Development Problems.”

Russian oligarchs were brought in to finance the project.

The organizers reportedly planned to invite as honorary participants Arkady Volozh, Ginni Rometty (IBM), Jack Ma, Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, and even Elon Musk.

To any reasonable observer, it was obvious from the start that the dream was impossible. But that did not stop the DOI and its beneficiaries from fantasizing.

No one knows how much money was spent on the project or how many intelligence memos were produced describing its supposed successes and progress in “establishing control” over Bill Gates and others.

When it became clear that the Kremlin had essentially been fed fiction, that oligarchs’ money had disappeared into nowhere, and that no conference with Zuckerberg or others would ever take place, the blame was shifted onto an alleged “information leak.” Soon afterward, Sachkov — the “weak link” — was arrested.

Khramov, however, remained in charge of information security at the Security Council. Largely thanks to his efforts, Russia’s approach to information security has increasingly relied on brute-force methods — the “sledgehammer approach.” Now that “sledgehammer” has moved to Sberbank.

Greetings to the clients of the “most technologically advanced” bank.